FOOD

Oaxacan cooking gives Xochi a much sharper identity than “Mexican brunch” suggests. Oaxaca is one of Mexico’s great regional food cultures, with corn, chiles, beans, herbs, cacao, roasted meats and deeply worked sauces at its center. Xochi translates that breadth into a Sunday buffet built from scratch: tamales, moles, ceviches, cocteles, comal-cooked antojitos, egg dishes, vegetables, carved meats and a full pastry spread.

Mole is the clearest place to begin. Oaxaca is famously associated with seven classic families of mole, with countless local variations beyond them. Mole is not simply the chocolate sauce many Americans first imagine; it is a method of layering chiles, seeds, nuts, spices, herbs, fruit and other ingredients into sauces that can be green, yellow, red or nearly black. Xochi’s broader cooking moves through pipian verde, mole amarillo, pasilla, tamarind, chicatana and mole negro, making the buffet’s rotating moles part of the meal’s foundation rather than a condiment.

Corn is just as important. The kitchen makes its own masa, and Sunday puts it to work in tamales and hot antojitos from the comal. Xochi’s other menus help explain the vocabulary: a memela is a thick toasted masa cake; a tetela is a triangular masa packet folded around fillings; a tlayuda is a large, thin Oaxacan tortilla cooked firm enough to carry beans, cheese, greens and meats. The larger point is that masa is treated as a craft ingredient with different textures and jobs, not merely as a wrapper.

The cold side keeps the brunch from becoming all starch and braise. Ceviches and seafood cocteles bring lime, chile, herbs, avocado and crisp vegetables into the progression, while marinated vegetable salads create brighter pauses between richer plates. That contrast matters beside toasted chiles, roasted ingredients and moles with considerable depth; a chilled seafood plate can reset the palate before another pass through the hot line.

Then the buffet crosses into recognizable brunch territory without losing its regional accent. Chilaquiles soften crisp corn pieces under salsa and toppings; huevos rancheros pair eggs with tortillas and chile-driven sauce; migas make tortilla pieces part of the egg dish; huevos a la Mexicana brings tomato, onion and chile into the scramble. A carving station and rotating sides make the spread substantial enough for lunch, fitting a service that stretches from late morning well into the afternoon.

Dessert is unusually important here. Ruben Ortega, H Town’s executive pastry chef, uses Mexican cacao, breads and sweets as serious culinary material, and Sunday gives that work room to multiply. Pan dulce, pastries, cookies, candies, fruit, tres leches, flan and churros fill out the display, while house-roasted cacao becomes chocolate for desserts and drinks. Mexican hot chocolate is a particularly fitting finish, tying the meal back to Oaxaca’s deep cacao tradition.

The pleasure of Xochi is not simply that there is a lot to eat. The abundance has a point of view. A strong first plate samples the building blocks – masa, mole, something bright from the seafood side and something hot from the comal – before moving toward eggs, carved meats and sweets. By the end, the buffet has made a regional cuisine legible through repetition, contrast and choice.